Small Press – Big Ideas

Day 5 and going strong. Today I thought I would share a few small publishers that I’ve heard a lot about recently and think that they could do with a shout out. In case you don’t know yet (have you been living under a rock?!) I work in the publishing industry – I dig books pretty hard. And if you’re unfamiliar with the lay of the publishing land there are a handful of larger publishers, like Penguin Random House, Hachette Livre, Harper Collins etc that have lots of publishing houses within them and then there are a whole host of indie publishers. I’m going to flag some of the smaller emerging companies who I think are working on some exciting new projects and you should keep an eye on.

Run by two incredible women Lauren Jones and Heather McDaid, 404 Ink is a literary magazine and book publisher, who have so far publisher two issues of their magazine and a collection of essays by women, Nasty Women, and Hings a shot story collection by Scottish writer Chris McQueer. They accept open submissions for the magazine of fiction and non-fiction with a set theme for each.

A fledgling publisher dedicated specifically to publishing books around the subject of mental health. I’m a big advocate of speaking about mental health and set up the Mental Health Awareness Readathon a few years ago. So to see this subject being the sole focus of a publisher is something I’m really glad about. (Also totally not biased but two lovely people I know work there and they will work the butts off to make sure the books are awesome).

A new micropublisher (every thing micro is exciting) dedicated to giving a voice to those not conventionally heard in the media. They are currently crowdfunding for their first publication, an anthology called On Anxiety and surpassed their goal yesterday with incredible speed! I suggest you check it out asap.

The latest venture from publishing industry all-star David Headley, founder of Goldsboro books and DHH Literary Agency, their focus is to champion great storytelling. With David’s firm grasp on the industry I have not doubt this with me another bow to his string and I look forward to seeing the new talent that emerges and how the press will integrate with the other businesses.

There are always new and exciting innovations happening in the industry and I urge you all to check out these guys and support their endeavours! And if you know of any other new presses popping up be sure to tweet me over @HowlingReviews